Spartan Daily Vol. 162 No. 35

By Kaya Henkes-Power STAFF

A protest in response to U.S. tax dollars funding Israel’s military occurred in front of the San José U.S. Air Force Recruiting center on Saturday afternoon.

The protest was held by San José Against War, a grassroots organization that opposes U.S. war and militarism, according to the organization’s Instagram bio.

Drusie, an organizer for San José Against War, organized

the protest following Israel’s attack on an Iranian diplomatic building in Syria. “The U.S. people do not want our tax dollars going to prop up the apartheid state of Israel,” Drusie said. Israel attacked the Iranian Consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing 14 people on April 1, according to an April 2 article by The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Iran launched missiles and drones on April 13-14 in response to the April 1 attack on the Iranian Consulate,

according to an article by Al Jazeera.

“We knew there was the potential for a widespread military campaign against Iran,” Druise said. “So we wanted to come out here today to say that the American people do not war with Iran.”

She said the American people do not want the U.S. to participate in any more military activity in the Middle East.

“The wars in the Middle East serve the purpose of protecting the ruling class here in the U.S. and (its) economic interests,”

Druise said.

The United States sends approximately $3.3 billion a year, and cumulatively $300 billion in U.S. foreign aid to Israel, according to an April 11 article from the Council on Foreign Relations. An anonymous protester whose family is from Gaza believes being in front of the Air Force Recruiting Center will help raise attention.

“The weapons and aid that we send to Israel is being used to commit this atrocity, to commit genocide,” the protester said.

He said people need to understand that Iran is a minor piece in the bigger story, and at a basic level an individual needs to understand Israel has been illegally occupying Palestine since 1948.

The occupation of Palestine dates back to 1923, beginning with the British Mandate which facilitated the mass immigration of Jewish individuals following the rise of Nazism, according to a Oct. 9, 2023 article from Al Jazeera.

Protest opposes Israeli war fund Writing Center offers helping hand

By Melissa Alejandres STAFF WRITER

One of Michelle Hager’s favorite parts of her job as director of the Writing Center at San José State is being involved with a lot of tutor training and making sure students are trained to tutor.

Hager said SJSU’s Writing Center was established in 2007 by the previous director Doctor Linda C. Mitchell, who is also a professor at SJSU, and Hager then became director in 2013.

The Writing Center is a place built for students who need extra help if they are struggling with their writing or if they need help achieving any other academic goals, according to its website.

“We offer a wide variety of services: in-person tutoring, online tutoring, we have drop-in options and workshops,” Hager said.

She said students need

to know that the tutors are their peers who have gone through similar struggles as them.

Hager said the tutors are always creating instructional resources, videos, handouts, and writing for the blog team.

Poetry for me is a form of healing and a form of processing the world around me.

Nalana La Framboise Writing Center tutor

“It’s not magically easy to write,” Hager said. She said one of the biggest challenges when it comes to creative writing is to make it sound natural and authentic.

Hager said poetry is often overlooked by

students because people think it is hard to do.

Writing Center tutor Nalana La Framboise, a poetry graduate student, said her favorite part of tutoring students is watching the “light bulb” go off above their head when they get a great idea.

“One of the difficulties of creative writing is creating your work and trying to put it out there in the world is the fact that you are going to be your own biggest critic,” Framboise said.

She said when people do poetry on their own time or for fun, the words are not hard to find.

“Poetry for me is a form of healing and a form of processing the world around me,” Framboise said. “Poetry is intended to reveal culture and identity.”

She said a good way to get inspiration for poetry is by being out in nature or simply going on a walk.

Writing Center, said she believes writing is a crucial skill to develop because it applies to any aspect of communication in life.

“Helping students develop that writing skill is a dream job

Seher Vora, a coordinator of Online Writing Support Services at the SJSU

PROTEST

Continued from page 1

“We knew there was the potential for a widespread military campaign against Iran,” Druise said. “So we wanted to come out here today to say that the American people do not war with Iran.”

She said the American people do not want the U.S. to participate in any more military activity in the Middle East.

“The wars in the Middle East serve the purpose of protecting the ruling class here in the U.S. and (its) economic interests,” Druise said.

The United States sends approximately $3.3 billion a year, and cumulatively $300 billion in U.S. foreign aid to Israel, according to an April 11 article from the Council on Foreign Relations.

An anonymous protester whose family is from Gaza believes being in front of the Air Force Recruiting Center will help raise attention.

“The weapons and aid that we send to Israel is being used to commit this atrocity, to commit genocide,” the protester said.

He said people need to understand that Iran is a minor piece in the bigger story, and at a basic level an individual needs to understand Israel has

Palestinian land was taken by European powers and given to Jewish settlers leading to a rise in tension that surmounted into the 1936 Arab Revolt, according to the same article.

In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly partitioned Palestine into two states, one a

You need to understand that you’re putting a lot of trust into leaders who are hungry for foreign wars.

been illegally occupying Palestine since 1948.

The occupation of Palestine dates back to 1923, beginning with the British Mandate which facilitated the mass immigration of Jewish individuals following the rise of Nazism, according to a Oct. 9, 2023 article from Al Jazeera.

Jewish state and one an Arab State, according to an article on the United Nations website.

The Arab world rejected this partition arguing it was a violation of the UN Charter, according to the same website.

“Iran’s response was to Israel striking their embassy in Syria,” the

protester said. “But at the root of the situation is the genocide happening in Gaza.”

In 1948 the British Mandate ended and on May 14, 1948, the Provisional Government of Israel proclaimed the establishment of an Israeli State, according to the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration website.

On May 15, 1948 following the establishment of the State of Israel, more than 750,000 Palestinians were forced from their land and became refugees, according to a 2017 article from Al Jazeera.

This day is recognized as the 1948 Nakba, which means “catastrophe” in Arabic, according to a United Nations webpage.

Johnny Ma, a protester and resident from San José, said everyone should be protesting and it’s the right thing to stand for Palestine.

“When you truly learn about (the conflict) meticulously, you begin to realize how crazy our

country was trying to hide the occupation (in) Palestine,” Ma said.

At least 33,137 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to an article by Al Jazeera.

Nearly 75,815 Palestinians have been injured by Israeli attacks since Oct. 7, according to the same article.

The anonymous protester said that people need to know what it means to go into the United States Military.

“You need to understand that you’re putting a lot of trust into leaders who are hungry for foreign wars,”

Ma said. “It means killing a lot of innocent people who do not need to die.”

On Sunday, the U.S. House approved $26.6 billion in military aid to Israel with $5.6 billion going to Israel’s weapon systems, according to a Sunday article by the Washington Post.

“I mean injustice wherever it exists around the world, needs to be addressed,” he said. “People need to speak up about it and speak against it, that's the bottom line.”

Follow Kaya on Instagram @kayuh.h

Johnny Ma Protester and resident from San José

Students celebrate Earth Day under the sun

#1: International business freshman Kiara Nguyen and psychology freshman Joanna Rodriguez laugh together.

#2: Screen printed posters made by students are hung at the Tower Lawn.

#3: Students sit on colorful blankets laid out on the grass.

#4: Colorful stickers displaying fruit puns decorate a club table, waiting to be picked up by students who win them.

#5: Members from Spartan Mambo perform to a lively song at the event.

Sports gambling is a growing issue

By Jonathan Canas STAFF WRITER

Sports gambling has started to reach new levels since the widespread legalization in 2018, some might even say it has now become a part of the sports culture since billions of dollars have been wagered annually. In May 2018, sports betting became legalized when the Supreme Court shut down the Amateur Sports Protection Act.

Since then 38 different states have legalized some form of sports betting, according to the United States Census Bureau. Everyone has the right to do what they want with their money and some only partake in sports betting because they are financially responsible. However, it does not change the fact that sports betting is just another form of gambling and people who have addictive personalities are prone to the addiction of gambling.

Companies like FanDuel, ESPN Bet, DraftKings, and Yahoo

Sports all promote their betting companies across all major sports. Each company makes it seem like sports betting is a cool thing to do and advertise how you can get rich if it all goes your way.

The commercials for sports betting not only feed onto addictions, but they actively show younger children certain vices that they may not have been familiar with yet. I do not think the legalization of gambling is the main problem at hand, it is the companies who actively promote it on their respective platforms. You could be casually watching a basketball or baseball game with your friend and chances are you have seen a commercial or heard the broadcasters saying their regularly scheduled promotion for an application. It is not easy to spot the addiction and other problems related to sports gambling because anyone can have it on their mobile device. It is not like other forms of gambling like blackjack or Texas Hold’ Em where you can just lose all your money on the spot.

I do not think the legalization of gambling is the main problem at hand, it is the companies who actively promote it on their respective platforms.

Sports gambling is a slow killer. Your friend or family member can have their paycheck on the line of a baseball game as they’re sweating bullets and you would think you guys are just simply watching a game.

It is amazing how a sports broadcasting platform like ESPN can

even promote gambling in the sports they actively cover. It is even more surprising how sports conglomerates like the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB are now in contracts with betting organizations to promote gambling after actively going against it before its legalization.

On April 17, the NBA banned Toronto Raptor forward Jontay Porter for life after betting on his

own prop bets and sharing information with other gamblers, according to an April 21 article in the New York Times. The NBA said that between January through March, Porter placed 13 bets on NBA games in another person’s betting account, according to the same article.

The integrity of the game is being compromised with the exposure and easy

accessibility of online gambling. The Porter news was even worse timing considering MLB’s biggest star Shohei Ohtani got into legal trouble after it was discovered that his translator, Ippei Mizuhara, had stolen more than $16 million from his bank to financially support his illegal sports betting tendencies, according to April 15 CBS Sports article.

Sports leagues formed a coalition on April 23, 2023 to promote limits on betting ads. The coalition has members in the MLB, NHL, NFL, NBA, NASCAR, and MLS, according to an April 19 article on ESPN. Some of the goals listed are to market to people who are of legal age only to place bets, call for publishers to review consumer complaints and that sports advertisements should be shown in good taste. It has been about a year since the coalition was formed and it seems as if gambling advertising has only grown in the sports industry since then. If action is not taken to combat the advertisements and the normalcy of sports betting it will show how much sports companies have prioritized the betting instead of the actual sport that is being played by world class athletes.

GRAPHIC BY JONATHAN CANAS